Refrigerating means.



PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906-.

JL BECK. RBPRIGERATING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 1904.

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ATTORNEYS PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

v .LBEGK. REFRIGERATING MEANS.

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ATTORNEYS PATENT FFTOE.

JOHN BECK, OF ASHLAND, WISCONSIN.

REFRIGERATING MEANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

Application filed June 4 1904. Serial No. 211,120.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN BECK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ashland, in the county of Ashland and-State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Refrigerating Means, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to refrigerating,

means; and the principal object contemplated in the invention is the production of an economic means of refrigeration in which ice is employed and which are adapted for application to the cooling of buildings, cars,

butchers refrigerators, the refrigerators of private houses, and refrigerators of any other kind in which the degree of cold which may be produced by melting ice is suflicient for the purposes contemplated.

Stated in general terms, the invention consists in a novel refrigerating means in which economy of operation is secured by maintaining a circulation of air beneath the ice instead of on all sides of the ice, as is ordinarily the custom.

In order to render the nature of my invention clear to persons skilled in the art, I will proceed to describe its embodiment in a building and will point out the novel features of the invention in the appended claims. It is, however, to be understood that the embodiment of the invention described is merely an illustration of its application and that other embodiments thereof fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a sectional view through a refrigerator-building provided with a refriger ating means in accord with the present invention, the view being taken upon the line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the building on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the building on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view, upon an enlarged scale, upon the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sec tional view upon the line 6 6 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, B indicates the building in which the means of refrigeration is provided, and this building may be of any ordinary type adaptedfor refrigerating pur poses, the form of building shown being merely selected for purposes of illustration and not being intended to indicate, except in a general way, the nature of the building construction. The building B is of course provided with Walls 1 and a roof 2, both the walls and. the roof being preferably provided with airspaces to render them effective non-conduc-,

tors of heat. In the top of the roof 2 there is preferably provideda ventilator 3, and passages 4 lead upward between the rafters of the roof structure, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The interior of the building B is d ivided into an upper or ice chamber 5 and lower or cooling rooms 6, which are preferably in communication, as shown. Between the ice-chamber 5 and the cooling-chambers 6 a horizontal ice-support 7 is provided, which is constructed with a plurality of apertures to permit the passage of air therethrough to come in contact with the ice resting upon the support. In the preferred form of the invention the ice-support comprises joists 8, supporting on their upper edges a'plurality of slats 9, which are spaced apart to constitute a grating, as best shown in Fig. 3. Beneath the ice-support 7 I provide a floor which is preferably made up of two sections 1 O, which slope from the sides of the building toward the middle and are covered with galvanized iron or other suitable impervious material. Between the floor-sections 10 in the middle there is an air-passage 11, which is narrowest midway between its ends, as shown in Fig. 3, and at the margins of the air-passage 11 each section of the floor is provided with an upturned lip 12, forming a drip-conductor. The two floor-sections are shown as supported upon inclined joists 13, the outer ends of which are fixed in the walls 1 of the building and the inner ends of which rest upon a central beam 14, mounted upon suitable supporting-pillars 15. The cooling-chambers 6 are provided at the top with ceiling-sections 16, attached to the under side of the joists 13, and the floor-sections 10 constitute suitable collectors for the drip produced by the melting ice. The floor-sections and the ceilingsections are connected by side pieces 17 and 18. As indicated most clearly in Fig. 4, the side pieces 17 are disposed at the inner or adjacent edges of the drip-collectors, and these faces diverge downwardly. The side faces 18 are disposed near the wall and incline upwardly away from the wall, as indicated.

At the sides of the floor-sections 10 airpassages 19 are formed, and over the side passages 19, as well as over the middle airpassage 11, suitable hoods are provided, as

shown bestin Fig. 4. Over the middle passage 11. a hood 20, sloping in both directions from the middle, is provided, and over each of the side passages 19 a hood 21 is provided, which slopes in the same direction as the adjacent floor-section. The hoods 20 and 21 extend into close proximity with the ice-support 7 and-prevent the air from passing upward through the passages 11 and 19 to points above the level of theice-support. In order to cut off circulation of air through the passages 11 and 19 when so desired, door-sections 22 are mounted upon the sides of the beam 14 and doorsections 23 are hinged to the side walls of the building beneath the air-passages 19. In the construction of the hoods 20 and 21, as well as the floor-sections 10, it is desirable to provide a lining of galvanized iron or other impervious material to prevent injury to the hoods from the drip of the ice and to render them thoroughly waterproof.

The refrigerating effect produced by ice when placed in the ice-chamber 5 will be readily understood from the above description and the accompanying drawings, illustrative thereof. As is well known, cold air, being heavier than warm air, tends to sink and the warmer air tends to rise as the cold air descends. Consequently the air which comes in contact with the under surface of the ice resting upon the slatted support 7 will tend to flow downward and inward along the inclined floor-sections 10 to the middle passage 11 between the said floor-sections and will then pass into the cooling-chambers 6, so displacing some of the air contained in the said chambers, which will be forced upward through the passages 19 at the sides of the chambers. The air which passes upward through the passages 19 will be deflected by the hoods 21 into the space beneath the slatted ice-supporting structure 7 and coming in contact with the ice will be cooled thereby and pass downward again through the middlepassage 11. It will thus be apparent that the slight inclination of the floor-sections 10 will cause the air which is cooled by contact with the under surface of the ice to move downward along the said inclined floor-section and to pass through the passage 11, while the descent of the cold air through the passage 11 must of necessity cause the ascent of an equal body of warmer air through the side passages 19. In this way a complete circulation in the chambers 6 is set up and maintained. As cold air tends to sink, there will be little or no upward movement of air from the ice through the passages 4, which lead to the ventilator; but instead the air in the ice-chamber becoming chilled by contact with the ice will remain in contact therewith and tend to prevent melting of the ice except at the bottom. As the hoods 20 and 21 form complete covers over the airpassages 11 and 19, but little opportunity is presented for the passage of the rising currents of air from the cooling-chambers to points above the level of the ice-support. Hence the cooling eflect of the ice upon circulating currents of air is limited to the cur rents produced in the cooling-chambers and the space between the floor-sections 10 and the slats upon which the ice rests. It will therefore be obvious that the rate at which the ice melts will be almost wholly dependent upon the temperature maintained in the cooling-chambers 6, and when the tempera ture within the said cooling-chambers approximates the freezing-point the rate at which the ice melts will be necessarily very slow, and the cost of refrigeration will be correspondingly small.

In order to dispose of the drip-water, I provide drain-pipes 24, the upper extremities of which are located, as shown in Fig. 3, at the lowest points of the floor-sections 10. The converging lips 12, referred to above, guide the water-shed from the floors to these points, and the drain-pipes carry it vertically downward to the ground, as indicated.

While I have described the refrigerating means as applied to a building, it will be obvious that the same may be applied to cars or to refrigerating boxes or rooms without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not, therefore,-regard it as necessary to illustrate constructions of the several kinds mentioned to which the system is applicable.

Special attention is called to the hoods 20 and 21, located over the circulating-openings at the edges of the floor-sections. It will be observed that the edges of these hoods project beyond the edges of these openings, and thus operate to prevent pieces of ice overhanging the grating from dripping into the chamber 6.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A refrigerator-house having oppositelydisposed drip-collectors presenting a central opening therebetween, and side openings adjacent to the side walls of said house, said drip-collectors beinginclined toward said central opening, joists disposed transversely with respect to said central opening and supported on said drip-collectors, bars constituting gratings and resting on said 'oists, side hoods projecting from the side walls of said house and overhanging the outer edges of said drip-collectors, a central hood disposed over said central opening and overhanging the adjacent edges of said drip-collectors, the outer edge faces of said drip-collectors inclining inwardly in an upward direction whereby they facilitate the movement of air toward said central opening and across the upper faces of said drip-collectors, the inner edge IIC faces of said drip-collectors being inclined downward away from the central line of said house whereby they tend to direct a descending air-current laterally.

2. A refrigeratonhouse having oppositely disposed drip-collectors presenting a central opening therebetween and side openings adjacent to the side walls of said house, said drip-collectors being inclined toward said central opening and having inclined edge faces at said central opening adapted to faciltate the divergence of air-currents descending at said central opening, said drip-collectors further having inclined side edges at said side openings adapted to facilitate an inward or central movement of an air-current rising at the side walls of said house, ice-gratings supported on said drip-collectors, hoods overhanging the edges of said drip-collectors at said openings, and hinge door-sections attached below said openings and facilitating the flow of air-currents therethrough.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN BECK.

Witnesses:

A. B. NOBLE, F. O. BLOOMQUIST. 

